Toxin-antitoxin systems (TAS) emerged more than 25 years ago and developed as an important field in molecular microbiology. TAS are autoregulated operons coding a stable toxin and an unstable antitoxin found in plasmids and chromosomes of Bacteria and Archaea. The conditional activation of their toxins interferes with cell growth/viability and, depending on the context, can influence plasmid maintenance, stress management, bacterial persistence, cell differentiation and, likely, bacterial virulence. This review summarizes recent results on the parD system of plasmid R1 and on the chromosomal relBE systems found in Escherichia coli and in Streptococcus pneumoniae with a focus on the RNase activity of their toxins, their regulation and their biomedical applications and implications.
- MeSH
- Antitoxins genetics immunology metabolism MeSH
- Bacterial Toxins genetics immunology metabolism MeSH
- Biotechnology methods trends MeSH
- Cell Growth Processes genetics immunology MeSH
- Financing, Organized MeSH
- Protein Synthesis Inhibitors immunology metabolism MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Microbiology trends MeSH
- Molecular Biology methods trends MeSH
- Plasmids genetics MeSH
- Ribonucleases genetics immunology toxicity MeSH
- Ribosomes genetics immunology MeSH
- RNA genetics immunology toxicity MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Publication type
- Review MeSH
